Retailers have had a ‘disastrous’ Christmas  and warned ‘it will be a challenging start to 2025’ – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

It appears that Retailers have had a “disastrous” Christmas as footfall on the high street was 5.3% lower than 23 December 2023 amid the increased cost-of-living crisis.

On Monday retailers were expecting to see high sales, but footfall plummeted by 28.5% across all destinations, according to MRI Software.

Last week shopping centres was up by 45.5% and retail parks had a 31.1% increase as shoppers bought last minute gifts, whilst high street saw a 1.8% week-on-week increase.

MRI Software said the cost-of-living crisis is still affecting the UK and there was a 5.3% fall in footfall on the high street.

Read more related news:

UK on the brink of a recession and jobs ‘will be cut sharply’ as Labour is ‘killing businesses and jobs’

Former Thatcher aide warns Tories is ‘close to oblivion’ and Farage will win the next election

Even on Super Saturday – the final Saturday before Christmas Day which is typically the peak shopping day of the year – footfall was only +4.1% higher than on Saturday 14th December, and virtually flat on 23rd December 2023 with a rise of just +0.9%.

Jenni Matthews, marketing and insights director at MRI Software, said, “While many are taking to the shops ahead of Christmas Day, this may well be the last splurge before a big spending freeze sets in in the new year for consumers, meaning that retailers should be taking heed of these trends to plan accordingly for a challenging start to 2025.”

Separate figures has suggested that Christmas appears to have been “disastrous” this year for retailers as footfall was down 11.4% compared to 2023.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that in January it is expected there will be a spending freeze as there is a lot of uncertainty following on from the Chancellor’s controversial Budget.

Diane Wehrle, CEO of Rendle Intelligence and Insights said, “It seems that my prediction for a “cautious Christmas” for consumer spending is playing out.

The subsequent two weeks trading since Black Friday seems to have been lacklustre at best.  Experience has shown that trading plateaus in the week or so following Black Friday, however, a week on week drop in footfall into stores of -9.1% followed by a rise of only +7.5% is exceptionally disappointing.

Particularly as it means that footfall over the last two weeks has averaged -3.1% below the same weeks last year, which was recognised as a pretty disastrous Christmas trading period. Moreover, footfall into stores last week dropped further behind 2023 than the week before (-3.3% last week vs -2.8%) the week before last.”